Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Genestealer Cults (section)

==Tactics and Strategies==

===Notable Combos and Unit Builds===

* '''Flamer Acolyte Bomb:''' 15-20 Acolyte Hybrids with Hand Flamers using the Lying in Wait and A Perfect Ambush Strategems allowing them to clear enemy screens before other units deep strike close to important targets e.g. tanks. Almost a must take for competitive play.
* '''Rusted Claw Jackal Bomb:''' 5 man squad of Jackals with demo charges and a Jackal Alphus using Lying in Wait, Drive By Demolitions and Extra Explosives to nuke a tank for a reasonable price. If you really want something dead, make it a max size unit and in addition to the above, use A Perfect Ambush and Extra Explosives twice (Can be done since the shots from A Perfect Ambush are done in the movement phase, still allowing you to use the strategem again in the next phase). Anything this stupid overkill bomb touches will die, guaranteed, but will cost you most of your CP.   
** After CA 2019, this unit took a big nerf with demo-charges going up 5 points each.  While the unit isn't any less effective, the extra 25pts can really put a strain on other aspects of your force and running a backup unit or two has become much less enticing.

===Brood Brothers, Tyranid Allies, and you===
As mentioned above, Genestealer Cults armies have the option of allying in with the following:
* '''Astra Militarum:''' Requires one Genestealer Cults detachment for every Astra Militarum detachment, so in most cases you can take one detachment of them. They lose their objective secured, and Regimental-specific orders, stratagems and relics. They may also not select a Warlord for their detachment. All other bonuses (such as voice of command) and stratagems can be used. Did I mention you can take a Baneblade variant in a Superheavy Auxiliary detachment? [[Cheese|It wasn't getting any regimental-specific bonuses anyway.]]
* '''Tyranids:''' These can be allied in freely. They also happen to have the {{W40Kkeyword|Tyranid}} keyword which they share with the Genestealer cults, (big surprise there what next telling us that chaos is bad?). Unfortunately, you still can't use any of the Tyranid stratagems on your GSC units, due to the Tyranid FAQ preventing you from doing so, and can't be the target of their psychic powers either.

You should use allies to shore up the weaknesses in the Genestealer Cults army (for example, by bringing in a Shadowsword to deal with titans). The "hot takes" for allies will be added below. In general Genestealer Cults have the following issues:

* '''Removing screens for their Cult Ambush:''' Any Genestealer Cults player knows that a simple screen can end up with you wasting a 376pts deathstar on a few weak squads. Genestealer Cults rely on their Cult Ambush to get a lot of their "heavy lifting" done, so it's often worth having allies on the board to first remove the screens with shooting.
* '''Anti-tank (and anti-titan):''' This issue can be resolved with Aberrants in melee, but this strategy often has the flaw of being screened, as mentioned above. Furthermore, your Aberrants can't be everywhere at once, and so it is best to have some points-efficient allies who can take down tanks. The mining lasers provided by the Genestealer Cults don't prove effective unfortunately, or at least when compared to allied choices. Or you could get a 6 point differnce in leadership and auto kill even a warlord titan.
* '''A first-turn board presence that doesn't feel wasted:''' As per the "Big FAQ 2", now at least half your ''points'' (and units) must be deployed on the battlefield. This means that without allies, you have to put over 1,000pts of squishy glass cannons on the board turn 1. Rather than fill up this 1,000+ points on Neophytes or expensive units like Aberrants that will quickly get picked off, it is better to have sturdier allies start on the board, and put most of your Cult in reserve, where they belong. 
* '''Keeping board control before Cult Ambush:''' It is highly important that you gain control of the "no man's land" area of the battlefield, to prevent your opponent from expanding their forces to create a null-zone of anti-deep strike. The last thing you want is for your ambushing units to be restricted to the back corner of your deployment zone when ambushing. Use some fast and reasonably durable units to do this. 
**Also, throw a Clamavus at the front of your deployment zone to get a nice 12" bubble of deep stike denial, then just shore up the flanks with some scout move Ridgerunners.
**Our new Ambush Blips provide a 9" no entry bubble for first turn.

===Abominations Against The Four-Armed Emperor===

This is where matchups and counter-play is discussed. Feel free to add what tactics and strategies have worked against specific armies in your own personal experience.

====Imperium====
*'''Space Marines''' - Can fire at units coming in from reserve with one unit of infantry, as long as the target is within 12", and they subtract 1 from their hit rolls, for a 2 CP stratagem. A unit of intercessors with a re-roll aura nearby can tear up T3 units, even with the -1 to hit. Generally SM depend on their comparatively expensive captains and named characters to boost their army and thus huddle around them. Kelermorphs, Jackal Alphus and well played melee assassinations slipping through the gaps in the SM chaff strip the SM of many of their bonuses making their shooty units less of a threat than basic Tau or an IG gunline. Ultramarines and Iron Hands have counters to your assault shenanigans thanks to the smurfs being able to fall back and shoot with a -1 penalty, and Iron Hands overwatch on 5+.
**With their new Codex, Marines are back and more dangerous than before with their Combat Doctrines. The Devastator, Tactical, and Assault Doctrines up the AP of all Heavy, Rapid Fire & Assault, and Melee weapons by 1, respectively. Some chapters also modify specific doctrines, such as Ultramarines who count as having stood still unless they advanced or fell back during the Tactical Doctrine. Correction, NOW a unit of Intercessors with a re-roll aura can tear up your T3 units by rending off your squads' 5+ save with AP-2 during the Tactical doctrine. Oh, Shock Assault lets all Marines get +1 attack if they charge, get charged, or heroically intervene so you HAVE to wipe those Primaris units you charge otherwise you'll get a nasty counter-assault.
**All Chapters including Deathwatch and Grey Knights got the Shock Assault rule in an errata, so the above point on SA applies to all of the snowflakes below (especially if they're close-combat oriented like BA and GK).
**Beware of their easy access to Scrambler arrays.  Depending on your meta, you may find certain opponents spamming them all across the map.  As you might imagine, this is a huge pain for any majority GSC army and likely a matchup you will struggle to gain any ground in.  
*'''Blood Angels''' - You should be able to easily keep him away from your deployment zone with smart blip deployment. Use Meticulous Uprising and ensure he can't charge anything of value turn 1. If you do go first, consider deploying Clamavus on the board to further screen out the incoming death company/sanguinary guard. Blood Angels armies are often coming to you, so keep positioning and safe deep striking zones in mind. On the other hand, if all of his stuff is coming at you, his backline should be very open and chargeable with a big blob of acolyte hybrids. If you can hold the initial deepstrike punch from him, then you should be able to decimate whatever he has left in his backlines. Beware of Baal Predators with flamers (unlikely though as why would anyone run a Baal Predator). 
*'''Dark Angels''' - Have the same Auspex Scan stratagem Vanilla marines have, while also principally focused on being a static gunline that is almost immune to morale, or fearless if they are {{W40kKeyword|Inner Circle}} units. Again, characters such as Azrael and Ezekiel are lynchpins for their insanely good auras. Deal with them first and watch their gunlines crumple. Ravenwing units can ignore cover with the help of their Talonmaster, a vehicle HQ that can still hide behind other units, making him a bit of a hassle to deal with since being a T5 {{W40kKeyword|vehicle}} screws with Sniper Rifles and Daggers that are mainly intended to be used against {{W40kKeyword|Infantry}} models. Belial and Sammael act like mini-Chapter Masters to their First and Second company units, respectively. Speaking of the Deathwing and Ravenwing; Terminators, Bikers, and vehicles are bullet hoses thanks to Bolter Discipline, making a mockery of your mostly T3 army at a 24" range. Don't let them kite you, get stuck in there quickly. Elite armies suffer greatly once the casualties start piling up, but remember your cheap hordes of Neophytes and Acolytes are strictly worse stat-for-stat and will die much easier than a space marine.
*'''Space Wolves''' - The Corgi "shoot at things coming in from reserves" strat requires the unit being targeted to be within line of sight of a Rune Priest AND it can be any unit that fires at the unit coming in. If they have a Rune Priest, kill him ASAP with a Sanctus using the relic sniper or keep your underground ambushing units out of the LoS of the Rune Priest. Their Chapter Tactic gives them +1 to hit if they charge, get charged, or perform a heroic intervention. It's...lackluster compared to the Blood Angels' similar Tactic, but it helps their unwieldy stuff hit its mark at least.
*'''Deathwatch''' - Their Mission Tactics let them re-roll 1s to wound against a unit type of their choice, and Special Issue Ammo stings like a bitch. The only way around it is if you have a detachment of C4AE units to stop them from swapping mission tactics mid-game once they deal with their chosen units. Frag Cannons and Infernus Heavy Bolters are a bitch. Luckily, so is charging from around a corner out of line of sight, the Mass Hypnosis power, and the Amulet of the Voidwrym relic to deny overwatch. They too can shoot at units coming out of reserve like normal Marines, but it has the same pitfalls as the Vanilla version. They also tend to rely on their comparatively expensive HQs, who would have guessed? Handle them as you would Space Marines.
*'''Grey Knights''' - These guys cry when they see a Magus in your list. Every squad has the potential to deny a smite against itself, within range of your Magus, obviously. Also, the Sanctus with the relic sniper has a field day with GK. Their Psychic Awakening book gave the grey bois some of that much needed love with their "tides of war" that can either let them re-roll 1s to wound in close combat for example. Ironically their best tide against us will be the one that lets them up the AP of all psybolt weapons by 1.
*'''Imperial Guard''' - With the Number of snipers available to the faction, you should be bringing 1-3 Jackal Alphus already. Their Rifles mean you should be picking off enemy Officers with ease, making the Guardsmen as average in shooting as you are. Just be aware that their characters cost next to nothing, and they probably got a Brigade Detachment, plus others in 2K. If you bought the Starn's disciples Kill Team set or kitbash a Commissar or Magus to make him, a Kelermorph is absolutely bonkers against a guard army. Remember: [[Meme|It's High Noon...]]  Also, Cadian gunline is tasty for ITC, as you can easily secure the entire board, whilst also ambushing in rapid fire range to remove their wall of guns in one turn. A safe bet for your cult creed would be the Bladed Cog, giving your entire army a 6+ invulnerable save (or +1 to existing invulns), making the guard's quality firepower a bit easier to tank.
*'''Adeptus Ministorum''' - The abundance of hand flamers can make your life hell when charging in. Once you do get in, you are going to tear their T3 models to shreds with the number of attacks that Acolyte Hybrids or Metamorphs can get. Beware counter charges from Arco-Flagellents as they will annihilate any unit they can get their hands on. In the same vein, their special characters can have some serious punch in melee, so beware of them. They traditionally have a lack of anti-psyker defenses beyond their 4+ deny stratagem. Bring a pair of Magus and a Patriarch and make their decision of what to try and deny really tough. 
*'''Adeptus Custodes''' - Mental onslaught states that you deal a mortal wound to the unit, but if the targeted models is still alive, the process continues. This is useful for targeting a unit that has a wound already, but selecting a different model, as it can guarantee 2 dead Custodes. See the Imperial Knight entry for how to assure the success of a Mental Onslaught. If you don't want to use psychic cheese, remember that while Custodes are insanely durable, you can always just swarm them in close combat and hope to drown them in bodies, and preferably Rending Claws too. 
*'''Adeptus Mechanicus''' - You have a Cult Creed that is designed to pinch one of the AdMech's quirks (Everything having an invuln) whilst also being very anti-Admech Fluff wise and even a little crunch wise. Chaos can only watch as the Bladed Cog's version of Death to the False Emperor procs on a 4+ against these guys (Sadly only as a stratagem, but you shouldn't forget it exists). Ultimately, you probably won't need it because the AdMech lack top tier melee units, but the idea of your acolyte Hybrids demolishing Infiltrators/Rustalkers is one you should remember should you bring Bladed Cog.
*'''Imperial Knights''' - Charge a block with 6 twisted Helix rocksaws into the Knight with a Primus giving their bonus either by strat to get closer or by +3 bubble warlord trait. The Rocksaws with a banner will be hitting on 2s rerolling, then not even using anything to boost the damage rolls are wounding on 3s rerolling, which averages 10 successful wound rolls (20 damage) going straight through Armor and then the minimum 20 claws and 10 daggers wounding on 5s rerolling can most likely finish it, add in ''Might from beyond'' and the saws can potentially kill the toughest knights by themselves.

====Chaos====
*'''Chaos Space Marines:''' Chaos Space marines do not have a whole lot of answers as a mono codex. However, be wary of cultist bombs with Abbadon as they can put out a lot of fire power. Alpha Legion's -1 to hit outside of 12" won't be a problem once you close in to close combat. That being said, watch out for the new Obliterators, they'll turn anything that isn't a Rusted Claw Aberrant into mincemeat in 1 shooting phase. 
*'''Chaos Daemons:''' With how many hand flamers you should be taking the plague bearer spam lists should not be too scary. Just pop up 3 inches away and fire 40d6 shots into a blob to statistically kill 21 plague bearers. With most Nurgle lists only taking 60 to 80 of them laugh as you just killed 25% of your opponents ability to fight and protect his characters. And we're not even getting into how easy it is to torch the T3 Bloodletters, Daemonettes, and Horrors. Then, you charge the leftovers. Also, snipe Greater Daemons, Daemon Princes, and Heralds silly with the Relic Laden Sanctus.
*'''Death Guard:''' Snipe Morty silly with the Relic Laden Sanctus. Outside of that, you have enough shots and attacks to force so many saves and disgustingly resilient rolls that he'll still lose a majority of his army. That being said, Death Guard love them some mortal wounds so remember to pop the Hypermetabolism stratagem to heal a wounded character of your choice.
*'''Thousand Sons:''' Laugh as you one shot Magnus the Red with your less than 150 point model (no longer valid with the Spring 2019 FAQ, if the opponent rolls a 6 Mental Onslaught stops). Also snipe Magnus (Or half the army really) silly with the Relic Laden Sanctus. Like Grey Knights, seeing a Magus in your list makes them cry. While Warpflamers are scary, so are your own hand flamers. 
*'''Chaos Knights:''' See knights
*'''Renegades and Heretics (FW)''' See guard, just no orders for them.

====Xenos====
*'''Eldar''' - Tough to beat with just a mono-GSC list. You're likely not going table them, so focus on board/objective control and area denial early before you start losing big chunks of your force, which you inevitably will. Craftworlds are one of the factions that can shoot at units coming in from reserve with the Forewarned stratagem, but they need a Farseer nearby to pull that off, which they'll surely have. Everything said about the anti-psyker relic Sanctus applies here, but beware of farseers. Ghosthelm allows the farseer to ignore regular MWs on 5+ and ignore Perils MWs on 2+. Craftworlds to beware of are as follows; Ulthwe gives their units an inherent 6+ FNP, making them a bit tougher to crack than the usual Eldar army (but not by much). Alaitoc is an infamous Craftworld with its -1 to hit against ranged attacks outside of 12", but you shouldn't have any problems closing that gap with cult ambush and using Acolytes instead of Neophytes for the obvious reasons. Also, you're in for a rough ride against flyers with there -2 to hit outside of 12", so if you're looking to down a few birds more easily look to your shooty Tyranid brethren: Exocrines and Hive Guard in a Kronos detachment. Saim-Hann specializes in lightning-fast assaults with its speedy jetbikes ignoring movement penalties with heavy weapons. Funnily enough, the two craftworlds that may give you the most trouble are Biel-Tan and Iyanden. Biel-Tan gives a re-roll of 1s to hit on shooting and overwatch attacks on all Shuriken weaponry (and Eldar can spam them like no tomorrow), making even humble Guardians an absolute terror against your units. A deep-striking unit of 20 with two Shuriken Cannon platforms can dish out 40 S4 shots and 6 S6 shots, re-rolling 1s to hit and being AP-3 on 6+ to wound. That WILL sting like a bitch. In addition, it confers +1Ld on all Aspect Warrior units, making leadership bombs a bit harder to pull off than usual. Iyanden's specialty is in near-morale immunity and with Vehicles that ignore the damage chart. Since their Psychic Awakening release, and CA 2019, the new hotness is to run the custom craftworld traits that deny cover to your whole army, and allow a single hit and wound re-roll for every unit in their shooting phase. This makes Eldar gun-lines more efficient at killing than ever. Luckily, they don't have a super high volume of shots, so your hordes of infantry aren't necessarily wiped in one swoop, and your best anti-tank units deep strike! Eldar tanks will die quite easily against five properly buffed Hammer-Aberrants, or an Acolyte-rock saw bomb, but you'll need to commit a little more to killing Wave Serpents due to their 6+ FnP stacked with reducing your attack dmg by 1. That said, go after the Wave Serpents early. No doubt they'll be ferrying around their objective-grabbing troops, which can be mopped up no prob once exposed. Lastly, Eldar vehicles are fast (no shit), so watch the placement of your characters and screen accordingly, or say goodbye to your aura buffs and your psykers.
*'''Dark Eldar''' - Can you vect a vect? Yes you can! A popular tactic Dark Eldar players like to do is use their flyers and flying transports to zone out their deployment zone and no man's land, preventing you from cult ambushing close to stuff that's important. This is why it's important to leave half of your army on the table armed with stuff that can pop their relatively fragile transports. Be aware though that Venoms are -1 to hit, so a Jackal Alphus will do you wonders there. Also, Heavy Flamers and Clearance Incinerators can do the same thing, auto-hitting at S5/6, and their Venoms and Raiders are T5.
*'''Harlequins''' -  Due to the fact that Harlequins are a speedy army, use Cult Ambush to pull a few tricks of your own such as blocking them out of the deployment zone with Ambush markers, or use APA to pop up 3" away with a unit full of flamers/Hand Flamers. Like all Eldar, the Harlequins love their -1 to hit modifiers, and your army's average ballistic skill is mediocre at best. Take as many auto-hitting as possible (but you were doing that in the first place like a good boy), and throw in a Kelemorph and Jackal Alphus to deny them their -1 to hit fuckery. An army with a universal 4++ seems like a daunting prospect at first, but they are an elite army after all, let's see them make a truckload of those saves. Their Death Jesters act like Snipers, if you can't tuck your characters out of LoS, Unquestioning Loyalty and taking Locuses to tank the hits make them a lot less threatening. Plus, you can easily fight fire with fire by throwing your own snipers at them. Shadowseers cast an aura of -1 to wound around themselves, but believe me they will hate you for taking a Magus with the Crouchling relic. Rule #1 of running a close ranged/melee army in 8th edition is if everything is a viable target, nothing is. Throw off their target priority using whatever means necessary.
*'''Ynnari'''
*'''Tau Empire''' - Casting Mass Hypnosis on a unit does not stop it from getting help via For the Greater Good, so you will have to choose wisely what will get it. Cast it on a big squad of Fire Warriors to decrease the insane amount of overwatch they can put out, or gun drones for the same reason, or on a Riptide so it doesn't light you up with burst cannons, these are all decent choices. More than likely, whatever charges first is going to get waxed. If you are smart (or lucky) however, you chose something that will survive in good enough condition to run in and allow the rest of your ambush to flood in. Alternate take: The Amulet of the Voidwyrm explicitly states that overwatch cannot be fired at the bearer, so safely charge a patriarch using his fairly bigger base into two packed units and tag them, and then send in the rest of your army.
*'''Tyranids''' - Kraken Bomb Genestealers hurt us as much as we love them. Thankfully, they cannot move within 9" of our deployment zone, and if you do some tricky deployment blip things, you can have your entire army more than 12" away [deny a charge attempt all-together]. You can also just Vect the Opportunistic Advance stratagem that Kraken Genestealers get to deny the charge attempt and buy your units another turn, as well. If you're feeling extra saucy, the mining drill fortification can shorten charge ranges by 2" as well. They also like to field big monsters such as Carnifexes, but Aberrants or a single Abominant will wreck them and look cost effective while doing it. A Clamavus hidden in between your ranged units will prevent units such as Trygons, Raveners, and Winged Hive Tyrants from getting too close. Incidentally, Shadow in the Warp does not affect us since all of our psykers have the {{W40kKeyword|Tyranid}} keyword so you won't suffer from their anti-psyker abilities as badly as other armies do.
*'''Genestealer Cults''' - Let the mind games commence! Clamavus' anti-deepstrike bubble is your friend. Can you vect a vect? Yes you can!
*'''Necrons''' - The lynchpin of a necron force is its reanimation protocols. If even a single Necron is left standing in a unit there is a 33% chance for each slain model to stand back up. Play for keeps and don't let up on a squad until it's 100% wiped, otherwise the Necron player will likely stack crypteks and resurrection orbs to ensure most of his slow-moving tin men stand back up. Use your superior strength and/in numbers!!!
*'''Orks''' - If you face Melee orks, your opponent may get fairly annoyed to hear you can bring S5, 3 attacks, 5+ save models for 7pts each, with an option to add hand flamers. And with a psychic power can boost them to S6, 4 attacks each. I know my local Ork player lost his mind reading that. You can rush down the orks in melee, where they will actually lose to your significant strength advantage, and attacks advantage. They will still wound us on 3s and 2s and can have up to 6 attacks each with exploding 6s for more attacks and they have bolt pistols at just 7 points a model as well. Just make sure you have handflamers for overwatching IF you messed up and let them charge you! and more importantly make sure you attack first! You have to attack them first or atleast kill enough of them so you have that attack advantage and get rid of their mob rule LD bonus. Orks can be a tough matchup). Your Snipers can deny significant character use from Weirdboys and Warbosses even with the obligatory 5++ Force shield aura. Lootas are a shooty unit, but they need significant babysitting in a competitive list. Finally, a poorly designed gretchin wall may become useless if your Cult units ambush from behind [making the grot stratagem ineffective]. Even if it's decently strategically deployed you can just up and rinse them using 20 hand flamers Acolytes and the Perfect Ambush stratagem.


[[Category:Warhammer 40000 Tactics(8E)]]
[[Category:Genestealer Cults]]

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